Hello and welcome to the Evening Brief Newsletter where we are zooming in on 14 rules NTSA has dropped today (and their penalties). Also, check out our data breakdown regarding OBV.
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Murkomen Changes Direction
The National Transport and Safety Authority, under the stewardship of Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, has released School Transport Rules, 2024, laden with 14 directives.
Murkomen had earlier vowed to overhaul the sector after the country recorded an unprecedented spike in road crashes involving school buses (and claiming lives in the process).
Murkomen's Anger: "I was angry (When he visited NTSA offices) because that evening I had heard that Chavakali students were travelling and were involved in an accident. A parent was waiting for her child yet the student had died. It is not a funny thing, it is a serious matter."
Penalty Introduced: "A person who contravenes any provision of these rules commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Twenty Thousand Shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or, both."
Drivers also risk having their licenses suspended for six months.
To rectify the situation, the Ministry has revised rules in all parts of the sector as follows;
1. All individuals registered as schools must provide a certificate of registration as a company as well as the National Identification for individuals or a certificate of registration from the Ministry of Education.
2. All schools and their operators must obtain a school transport provider license to operate school buses, which is renewable for one year.
3. The authority has the power to suspend or revoke a school transport provider license or a school
vehicle road license upon a breach of the conditions and/or requirements of the Act and these rules.
4. School transport providers must have a valid comprehensive insurance cover and employ qualified drivers and school vehicle attendants. They should also maintain the vehicle and keep records for two years as well as develop and adopt a school transport operations policy.
5. Schools must submit a school vehicle accident report within 24 hours of an accident occurring which should have a description of the accident, a list of passengers, the license of the driver as well as insurance particulars.
6. NTSA-equipped crosswalk attendants with the power to be tasked with stopping motorists to allow children to cross a road to or from school and shall have powers to direct, manage and control traffic around the areas of entry into and from exit from the school.
Other duties include stopping motorists to allow school transport motor vehicles the right of way as well as directing motorists around a school to ensure smooth traffic flow.
7. All vehicles must also be equipped with first aid kits to deal with any reasonable emergency.
8. The school buses must have at least one fire extinguisher, fitted dual red light indicator on the uppermost part of the front and rear sides of
the bus and have a 'stop' sign. It should also be painted yellow code FFD800.
9. All buses should have the vehicle printed with the words âSchool Busâ on both sides and the words 'Do not pass when red lights are flashingâ at the rear in block letters at least 8 inches in black colour."
They should have stop signal arms on the front and rear right-hand side, fitted with a vehicular telematic system and all seats must be fixed, foldable and free from sharp edges and upholstered with soft, shock-absorbent and fire-resistant materials.
The regulations also bar the buses from obstructing windows or bars with adjustments while the vehicles must possess a 'Stop' sign while transporting elementary students.
10. A driver of a school bus must have a valid license, pass the annual assessment for a criminal record and if convicted, they are disqualified from driving school buses.
The drivers will be in charge of the vehicle and students and will be responsible for the health, safety and welfare of each passenger and should ensure that the vehicles are clean.
When dropping off children, the driver is tasked with ensuring that a child who is disembarking from a motor vehicle has safely disembarked and cleared a safe distance from the motor vehicle.
11. All school buses should only operate between the hours of 5.00 am and 10.00 p.m. and should only carry students, teachers, parents, guardians, chaperones, school officials, and the driver.
12. Drivers should maintain discipline on the bus and shall report cases of disobedience or misconduct to the designated school officials. No students may be discharged from the vehicle for disciplinary reasons except at their home or school.
13. Vehicles shall not stop near the crest of hills, on curves, or on upgrades or downgrades of severe inclination. When stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging students, the vehicle shall always be stopped on the left side of the road and as far off the paved or main travelled portion of the highway as the condition of the shoulder permits.
14. All drivers must stop or attempt to overtake a school vehicle when the stop signal arm has been extended and the red light indicators on the uppermost part of the front and rear sides of the school vehicle are flashing.
All drivers are also prohibited from overtaking another motor vehicle while driving in an area designated as a school area or school zone.
Catch Up Quick: The CS has been on a mission to rein in all deviant drivers in an effort to reduce accidents which have been on the rise in recent months.
In the first three months of 2024, over 1,200 people have lost their lives through crashes, an increase from slightly over 1,100 recorded in a similar period last year.
Divergent View: Murkomen, however, insists that there is no spike in accidents noting that road fatalities have been increasing since independence.
"When Mwai Kibaki took over the reins, we were losing 3,000 people in 2004. In 2009, we lost 4,600. The figure dropped slightly but spiked. In 2022, we lost 4,650 people. Last year, the figure dropped to 4,300. Right now, we have lost 1,213 in 3 months. In the same period, we lost 1,146," he stated.
"Let me tell Kenyans because many people are speaking as though a new wave of accidents has just happened, it is not true. We have been losing people annually, over 4,400, in the last five years."
Suffering in Silence
Kenyan NGO Nguvu Collective has dropped grim statistics in its inaugural Obstetric Violence (OBV) Survey Report released on Sunday.
The Numbers: The report showed that 83 per cent of women suffer obstetric violence during their pregnancy period.
The report, which sampled 189 women in Kenya and published on Sunday, showed that 11 per cent of the women suffered violence while disabled.
"Psychological and emotional abuse (62%) such as disregard of needs and pain, verbal abuse and humiliation, dehumanizing and rude treatment, and discrimination," read the report in part.
"Physical violence and coercion (10%) such as pressuring or manipulating women into accepting medical interventions or procedures they do not want or need, hitting, slapping, kicking, or restraining a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period."
The Effects: One of the team members who developed the report, Nguvu leader Debora Monari, noted that most women suffered in silence due to a lack of knowledge of their rights.
She noted that some of the women were living with long-term effects of the violence or lost their babies but did not know what to do. (Check our responder text on why data is important to men too.)
Catch Up Quick: Monari, in October last year, captured the attention of Health CS Susan Nakhumicha and committed to advancing patient rights and safety. Monari had suffered eight misdiagnoses in top Kenyan hospital before undergoing a brain surgery that healed her in India.
The engagement came roughly a month after Monari lodged a petition at the Ministry seeking action in actualising the set-up of Patient Rights Committees. She argued that the misdiagnoses stretched for months and subjected her to financial strain and emotional turmoil.
She wants doctors stopped from cutting corners with patients.
Our Chat with Nguvu Change Leader Deborah Monari
Derrick Okubasu: What was the motive behind the study?
Debora Monari: Last year, Hon Gathoni wa Muchomba tabled policy on OBV in Parliament but has since been postponed. We have our own experiences with healthcare. We had the motivation to garner first-hand information that indeed it is a problem that needs addressing. We want to develop a national policy to protect women.
Derrick Okubasu: What action is Nguvu collectiv looking to take after the data was collected?
Deborah Monari: Because the findings are so heartbreaking, we are hoping that his data will help hospitals looking to protect women from OBV. This data should also influence education because most of the respondents did not know what was happening.
Derrick Okubasu: What do you hope Kenyan citizens should take out of the data on a personal level?
Debora Monari: Because information is power and once you are aware that OBV might happen to you or your girlfriend, it is easier to be on the lookout whenever you go to seek healthcare.
Here are the top five stories for the day;
1.President William Ruto's nominee as Kenya's High Commissioner to Accra, Ghana turns down the posting owing to family reasons.
2. Back to the streets! Azimio announces nationwide demonstrations.
3. Kenya's Shilling listed as the best-performing in Sub-Sahara Africa by the World Bank. Here why.
4. Fracas at JKIA as Nigerian rearrested for resisting deportation.
5. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki declares Wednesday a public holiday to celebrate to mark the Idd-ul-Fitr.
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This newsletter was written by Derrick Kubasu and edited by Brian Muuo.
Washington Mito contributed to the content.
Graphics prepared by Adongo Kyalo.
